Ross Kemp is returning to Albert Square in celebration of EastEnders’ 40th anniversary.

The 60-year-old first made his debut as Grant Mitchell in 1990 and has returned to the soap a number of times over the past 35 years.

He last appeared in the show in 2016 but will reprise his role this year in what the BBC has described as an “explosive” storyline.

Kemp said: “I’m delighted to be returning to EastEnders as the show heads towards its 40th anniversary.

“EastEnders has always meant so much to me, so to return as the show is about to celebrate such a special anniversary is an absolute honour.

“Grant has never been far from the action and, let’s just say, this time is no different as he certainly comes back with a bang.”

EastEnders first aired on 19 February 1985.

The character of Grant will return to the show as his brother Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) struggles with loneliness.

The pair’s childhood best friend Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) has also recently returned to the square after almost three decades away.

The return comes as Grant’s ex-wife Sharon (Letitia Dean), who had an affair with his brother Phil in the early 1990s and went on to marry him, is now dating his long-lost cousin Teddy Mitchell.

Nicknamed “Sharongate”, the storyline is one of the most memorable in the Walford soap’s history.

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Over the years, Grant has been involved in some of the soap’s classic storylines, including his fraught marriage to Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon).

In 2016, the character returned for a heartbreaking family reunion to say goodbye to his mother Peggy Mitchell (Dame Barbara Windsor) as part of the late star’s exit storyline.

Kemp initially appeared in the soap for nine years from 1990 to 1999, also returning between 2005 and 2006.

Grant initially departed in 1999 after Phil fired a gun at a car he was driving causing it to slide into the River Thames when he found out that his brother vengefully had sex with his then-wife Kathy Mitchell (Gillian Taylforth), but the character was not killed and instead left the square with his daughter Courtney for a new life in Brazil.

His 2000s return saw him involved in the unveiling of the killer of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), have an affair with Jane Collins (Laurie Brett), the girlfriend of Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), and a series of episodes which saw the Mitchell brothers embroiled in a vendetta against gangland boss Johnny Allen (Billy Murray).

During his time away from the soap, Kemp presented the Bafta award-winning documentary series Ross Kemp On Gangs between 2004 and 2009, which spawned a number of similar series such as Ross Kemp In Afghanistan and Ross Kemp In Search of Pirates.

Chris Clenshaw, EastEnders executive producer, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Ross Kemp back to EastEnders as he reprises the legendary role of Grant Mitchell.

“Whilst I’m not currently revealing exactly what brings Grant back to Walford, I can say that his return will play a significant part in the show’s 40th anniversary and will make up many moments of truly unmissable TV.”

At least 10 people have been killed after a vehicle struck a crowd celebrating the New Year in New Orleans.

At least another 35 people have been injured in the incident, which took place on the corner of the popular Bourbon Street, in the French Quarter of the city on Wednesday morning.

The FBI said it was investigating the attack as an “act of terrorism”.

Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, said the incident started at around 3.15am local time when a man driving a pick-up truck “intentionally” went around barricades and drove down the street at a “very fast pace”.

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“He was trying to run over as many people as he could,” she said.

“He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and damage that he did.”

Superintendent Kirkpatrick said the perpetrator also open fired at officers after crashing the vehicle. Two officers were shot, but both are currently in a stable condition in hospital.

The attacker was killed by officers at the scene, police said.

New Orleans city councilman Oliver Thomas added: “We know the perpetrator has been killed. As we search for a motive, remember there is no making sense of evil.”

Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the incident as a “terrorist attack” and said she has been in direct contact with the White House. President Joe Biden has also been briefed on the incident.

FBI special agent Alethea Duncan added that “improvised explosive devices” were found in the area and checks were being carried out to see if the devices were “viable”.

All three officials warned the public to stay away from the Bourbon Street area.

‘Horrific act of violence’

The city’s emergency preparedness campaign, NOLA, managed by New Orleans Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, said earlier on Wednesday there had been a “mass casualty incident”.

“The 8th District is currently working a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street,” NOLA said.

“Public safety partners are responding on scene.”

They warned people to “get yourself away from the area”.

Louisiana governor Jeff Landry said he was “praying for all the victims and first responders on scene”.

He called the incident a “horrific act of violence”.

Police said on Tuesday they expected the city to be busy as locals and visitors rang in the new year.

The city was also hours from the annual Allstate Sugar Bowl college American football game, which was set to attract thousands of people.

Officials said to help keep the peace, the police department would be staffed at 100% and it would draft in another 300 officers.

Bourbon Street is a popular tourist area in the city, famous for its many bars and clubs.

Hundreds of grieving relatives of people killed in the fated Jeju Air plane crash visited the site on New Year’s Day to pay respect to their loved ones.

South Korea’s transport ministry said authorities have finished formally identifying the 179 victims of the country’s worst air disaster.

Investigators have also extracted the data from the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and will convert it into an audio file, which is hoped will provide an insight into the crucial moments leading up to the tragedy.

The conversion could take about two days, the ministry said.

Officials said the contents of the damaged flight data recorder was not able to be extracted in South Korea, so it will be sent to the United States in cooperation with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for analysis.

All 175 passengers and four of six crew members were killed on Sunday when the Boeing 737-800 belly-landed at Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest and slammed into a sand and concrete embankment at the end of the runway, where it burst into flames.

Two crew members, located near the tail of the plane, survived.

The government has declared a national mourning period until 4 January and the country scaled back New Year’s celebrations.

The transport ministry said two more US officials arrived late on Tuesday to join a team of around two dozen investigators including from the NTSB, Federal Aviation Administration, and aircraft maker Boeing.

“They’re also planning to start a visual investigation into the wreckage,” deputy minister for civil aviation Joo Jong-wan told a briefing.

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Many questions remain unanswered and investigators will examine whether a bird strike, a failure of the landing gear to drop, or if problems with any other control systems played a role in the disaster.

Air safety experts have also questioned if the airport embankment designed to prop up navigation equipment was built too close to the end of the runway.

South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok has called for a fair and objective investigation, adding: “The most urgent matter at present is to return the victims to their families.”

Airport authorities set up an altar late on Tuesday, and on Wednesday buses carried relatives of victims to the crash site so they could pay their respects to their lost loved ones.

Park Han-shin, who has been liaising with airport and government authorities on behalf of the bereaved families, said almost 700 family members visited the crash site, where they laid chrysanthemums and bowls of rice cake soup.

County officials have since sent an alert to urge visitors to go instead to a larger memorial set up in a sports complex about five miles from the crash site.